Study Reexamines FDA Warning

Feb 28, 2014

ACC News Story

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In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public health notification warning that exposure to x-ray radiation during computed tomography (CT) scanning could do just as much damage to patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) as magnetic resonance imaging. For many in the medical community the FDA's report and recommendations raised a number concerns, not from its findings, but from its lack of significant peer-reviewed evidence. With no published data examining the significance of CT interference with CIEDs in real-world practice, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) sought to assess the occurrence of these CT-related interactions mentioned in the FDA advisory, and found that "the presence of cardiac devices should not delay or result in cancellation of clinically indicated CT imaging procedures."